"Please, Marcus. I'm begging you."
Daniel's voice cracked as he spoke, his hands clasped together in front of Marcus Clerk's mahogany desk. The COO didn't even look up from his phone, fingers scrolling through what looked like social media feeds.
"I just need an advance on my salary. Emma needs surgery, and the insurance won't cover it. I've exhausted every other option."
The irony wasn't lost on Daniel that he was begging the same man who had once carried Emma on his shoulders at her fifth birthday party. Marcus had been different then, just a senior developer who'd brought her a stuffed elephant that she still slept with every night. Now, three years later, that same man sat behind his executive desk, radiating cold indifference.
Marcus finally looked up, his expression shifting from boredom to mild annoyance. "Your sister? The one with the medical issues?"
"She has leukemia, Marcus. She needs surgery or she'll die in six months. I've been with this company for five years. I've never asked for anything before."
"And that's admirable, really. But you're asking me to risk company funds on your family drama. What happens when you can't pay it back?"
Daniel's throat tightened. "She won't get worse. This surgery will save her life."
Marcus laughed, the sound sharp and cruel. "Save her life? Come on, Daniel. You're not a doctor. For all we know, you'll blow through this money and be back here next month asking for more."
"You carried her at her birthday party. You gave her that elephant she still sleeps with. You know Emma."
"That was a long time ago. I was a different person then. Now I'm responsible for this company's financial health, not your personal problems."
Marcus stood up, walking around his desk to lean against it. "Look, I get it. Family is important. But so is financial responsibility. If we started handing out advances to every employee with a sob story, we'd be bankrupt in six months."
Daniel felt something dark twist in his chest. "A sob story? My sister is dying."
"According to you. But people lie when they're desperate. They exaggerate." Marcus shrugged. "How do I know you're not just looking for gambling money? Or drug money?"
The words hit like physical blows. Daniel stared at Marcus, trying to process the casual cruelty. "You think I'm lying about my sister having cancer?"
"I think you're a grown man who should handle his own problems instead of begging his boss for handouts like some charity case."
Daniel's hands clenched into fists. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that?"
Marcus smiled, clearly enjoying himself now. "And you're a pathetic loser who can't even take care of his own family. Maybe if you'd focused more on your career and less on playing the victim, you'd have the money you need."
"Get out of my office, Daniel. Before I decide to make your employment situation even more precarious than it already is."
Daniel stood there for a moment, watching Marcus return to his phone like nothing had happened. The casual dismissal felt worse than the insults somehow. He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him with deliberate control.
The elevator doors opened to reveal Jake Martinez, the security tech who'd gotten him this job in the first place. Jake's face lit up when he saw Daniel, then immediately fell as he took in his expression.
"Shit, man. He said no, didn't he?"
Daniel nodded, not trusting his voice.
"Fucking hell." Jake ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I tried talking to him yesterday. Even offered to co-sign or whatever. But the bastard just laughed at me."
"It's not your fault, Jake."
"Like hell it isn't. I'm the one who told you this place was different, that Clerk actually gave a shit about his employees." Jake's voice was bitter. "I should've known better. Rich assholes are all the same."
They rode down in silence. When the elevator doors opened in the lobby, Jake put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, we'll figure something out. Maybe I can ask around, see if any of the other department heads..."
"No." Daniel shook his head. "I'm done begging. I'll find another way."
Jake looked like he wanted to argue, but something in Daniel's expression stopped him. "You sure you're okay to drive? You look like you're about to collapse."
"I'm fine. Just need to think."
---
Daniel sat in a small coffee shop, staring at the steam rising from his untouched cup. The place was nearly empty, just him and an elderly man reading a newspaper in the corner. Emma's face kept flashing in his mind—his little sister, barely twenty-three, lying in that hospital bed with tubes and wires keeping her alive.
'Six months,' he thought bitterly. 'Six months or fifty years, and I can't even scrape together the money to save her.'
"Rough day?"
Daniel looked up to find a woman standing beside his table. She was tall, with dark hair that fell in waves around her shoulders and eyes that seemed to hold depths he couldn't fathom. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Daniel asked.
"Not yet," she said with a slight smile. "But I know you're having the worst day of your life."
"Something like that."
"May I?" She gestured to the empty chair across from him.
Daniel hesitated, then nodded. She settled into the chair with fluid grace.
"I couldn't help but notice you've been sitting here for an hour without touching your coffee. That's the kind of despair that goes deeper than money troubles."
"Look, I don't know who you are or what you want, but..."
"I know about Emma," she said quietly.
Daniel's blood turned to ice. "What did you just say?"
"Your sister. The leukemia. How the doctors have given her six months without the surgery." Her voice was soft, but there was something in it that made Daniel's skin prickle.
"How the hell do you know that?" Daniel's voice was sharp, defensive. "Are you following me?"
"I wasn't following you." She leaned forward slightly. "I also know about your conversation with Marcus Clerk. About how he called you a charity case and suggested you might be lying about your sister's condition."
"Who the hell are you?"
She smiled, and it was neither cruel nor kind, just infinitely sad. "Someone who's been where you are. Someone who understands what it's like to watch the people you love slip away while you're powerless to stop it."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"No, it doesn't." She leaned forward, her eyes never leaving his. "But here's what I can tell you—I can help Emma. I can make sure she gets the surgery she needs, that she lives a long, healthy life."
Daniel felt his heart skip. "What's the catch?"
"There's always a catch, isn't there?" She traced a finger along the rim of her coffee cup. "The catch is that you'd have to come with me. Leave this world behind."
"Stay with you where?"
"Somewhere else. Somewhere you'd never have to worry about bosses like Marcus Clerk or watching the people you love die because you can't afford to save them."
Daniel stared at her, trying to process what she was saying. "You're talking about death."
"I'm talking about transformation. About becoming something more than what you are now." Her voice grew intense. "Do you know what it's like to live for centuries, Daniel? To watch the same human cruelties played out again and again? To know that people like your sister suffer not because the universe is cruel, but because other people choose to be?"
"You're insane."
"Am I? Or am I the only person who's offered you a real solution?" She leaned back. "Think about it, Daniel. What are your other options? Go back to Marcus and beg some more? Watch Emma die while you exhaust yourself trying to raise money that doesn't exist?"
Daniel's throat felt tight. "Even if I believed any of this, why would you help me?"
"Because I've been alone for a very long time. Because I'm tired of watching the world burn while I stand on the sidelines." She paused, something vulnerable flickering across her features. "Because I think you understand what it's like to be powerless."
"And if I say no?"
"Then you walk away. Emma dies in six months. You spend the rest of your life wondering if you could have saved her."
Daniel closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the decision crushing down on him. When he opened them, she was still watching him with those ancient, knowing eyes.
"How do I know you're not just some crazy person who's been stalking me?"
"Because deep down, you know I'm telling the truth. You can feel it, can't you? That I'm not entirely human."
She was right. There was something about her that felt otherworldly, something that made his instincts scream warnings while his heart whispered promises.
"What would happen to me?"
"You'd become like me. Stronger, faster, essentially immortal. You'd never have to watch helplessly while the people you care about suffer."
"And Emma?"
"She'd live. She'd grow up, get married, have children. She'd never know how close she came to dying or what you sacrificed to save her."
Daniel stared into his cold coffee, seeing his reflection distorted in the dark surface. 'This is insane.'
"Sanity is a luxury for people who have other options."
He looked up at her, and for the first time in months, he felt something other than despair. It was terrifying and exhilarating and completely mad.
"If I do this, how do I know you'll keep your word?"
"Because unlike the Marcus Clerks of the world, I understand the value of a promise."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a small, ornate knife. The blade gleamed silver in the coffee shop's dim lighting. "This is how we bind the promise."
Without hesitation, she drew the blade across her palm. Blood welled up immediately, bright red against her pale skin. She didn't even flinch.
"Your turn, Daniel. But once we do this, there's no going back. Ever. Are you absolutely sure?"
Daniel stared at the knife, at her bleeding hand, at her face which showed a mixture of hope and hunger. His mind screamed that this was insane, that normal people didn't do blood rituals in coffee shops.
But the promise of saving Emma, of never feeling this helpless again, was worth any price.
'Emma will live,' he thought. 'Whatever happens to me, Emma will live.'
"Yes," he whispered, taking the knife.
The pain was sharp and immediate as he dragged the blade across his palm. His blood mixed with hers as she pressed their palms together.
The moment their blood touched, electricity shot through Daniel's entire body. It felt like lightning coursing through his veins, like every cell was being rewritten. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he thought he might pass out.
Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the sensation stopped. Daniel looked down at his hand, expecting to see the cut, but his palm was completely smooth. Not even a scar remained.
"What the hell?" he gasped.
She smiled, her own hand similarly healed. "Now we're bound. Forever and always."
She stood up, her movements fluid and graceful. "We should get going before your power begins to manifest."
"What power?" Daniel asked, still staring at his unmarked palm.
"You'll see," she said, her smile mysterious. "Trust me, Daniel. You'll see very soon."
She extended her hand to him, and as Daniel took it, he felt that same electric sensation pulse between them. Whatever he had just agreed to, whatever he had just become, there was no going back now.
'What have I done?' The thought flickered through his mind as they walked toward the door.
But then he thought of Emma, of her smile, of the elephant she still slept with every night. Whatever price he'd just paid, it was worth it.
The ordinary world he'd known all his life was about to become something entirely different.